A Bittersweet Life (2005)

Since I didn't manage to see much this week, I'm forced to resort again to older stuff. And from the more recently seen I don't have much choice - two mafia stories: "We Own the Night" made in U.S., without much to remark about it, and "A Bitersweet Life" from South Korea, which is even simpler as a subject .. but overall more powerful and more original. So I'll stick to the last of them getting back once more to the Asian cinema ...

As I said, the subject is simple. A trusted man from a Triad is asked by the group head to watch over his much younger girlfriend while he's out of town, for three days. With the order to deal with the problem if he catches her cheating or at least to notify him in order to "take measures". Obviously, after not too long, the guy in charge with the "mission" catches the subjects together. But, being struck by mercy (after beating badly before the young Don Juan) he decides to do nothing from what his chief asked if the two break the affair. Somehow the boss finds out, and as result the first punished is his own employee. How is punished, how escapes and what happens after .. I'd rather leave to the viewer to discover. Again, the subject is quite simple = classic revenge story. What gives it a plus as story are several nuances sufficiently out of common to look taken from a script by Terry Gilliam collaborating with Tarantino (other better example I can't get now) = escape from the grave, Russian arm dealers with an IQ inverse proportionally with the motherland surface, battle scenes a la Bruce Lee = 1 vs. 20, etc.

I can't say that I liked the movie story wise. I'd rather have had a different ending. But I have to appreciate pretty much of the rest: directing (Jee-Woon Kim), cinematography, score, etc. The main role (Byung-hun Lee) as well as acting and script-wise, sort of remembered me about Alain Delon in several movies from '60-'70. So, to conclude, overall is a pretty bitter movie and relatively rough. Depending on your mood you might like it or not, but in any case is sufficiently powerful not to be forgotten quickly.

Rating: 4 out of 5